Kosovo's Final Status (Press statement made by the U.S. State Department Spokesman Richard Boucher on February. 12, 2003)
(Washington, DC) - The United States is concerned by recent developments in Serbia and Montenegro and in Kosovo regarding the timing and nature of decisions on Kosovo's future status. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 mandates a political process for determining Kosovo's future status. The United States strongly reiterates its support for Resolution 12441 and for this process. We also share the view of Michael Steiner, the Special Representative of the Secretary General, that the best and only acceptable way to prepare for discussions concerning Kosovo's future status is through the achievement of key democratic goals -- a process called "standards before status." We believe that statements or actions by the authorities in Belgrade or on behalf of Kosovo parties or institutions which attempt to force the pace of the future status process or to re-interpret the provisions of Resolution 1244 are unhelpful and potentially de-stabilizing. We urge all concerned to continue to work with the international community to create the foundation for a democratic Kosovo.
1Huh?
Me thinkum fat boy from Foggy Bottom speak with forked tongue. Here's some of 1244 that nothin's been done about:
Adopted by the Security Council at its 4011th meeting, on 10 June 1999
4.Confirms that after the withdrawal an agreed number of Yugoslav and Serb military and police personnel will be permitted to return to Kosovo to perform the functions in accordance with annex 2;
b.Demilitarizing the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and other armed Kosovo Albanian groups as required in paragraph 15 below;
15.Demands that the KLA and other armed Kosovo Albanian groups end immediately all offensive actions and comply with the requirements for demilitarization as laid down by the head of the international security presence in consultation with the Special Representative of the Secretary-General;
8.A political process towards the establishment of an interim political framework agreement providing for substantial self-government for Kosovo, taking full account of the Rambouillet accords and the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the other countries of the region, and the demilitarization of UCK. Negotiations between the parties for a settlement should not delay or disrupt the establishment of democratic self-governing institutions
Djindjic was guilty of trying to enforce a UN resolution for his country that NATO ignored for nearly 4 years.......... as heroin dealers and Al Qaeda terrorists destroyed Christian people and Churches..........while the U.S. government, having created the situation, and with forces on the ground there under a UN mandate, looked elsewhere.
Djindjic outlived his usefulness. He will be replaced. However, IMO the Russians are in the drivers seat about now.
Serbs may back rebel republic in Kosovo By John Phillips
BELGRADE will sponsor a breakaway Serbian mini-state in Kosovo if the West prevents Serbian troops returning to the province to guarantee Serb rights, Zoran Djindjic, the Serbian Prime Minister, said yesterday.
In an interview with The Times, Dr Djindjic dismissed the American contention that it is too early to discuss Kosovo, saying that its hard-won democracy could be at risk.
This month, the United States issued a statement saying that it was concerned with developments in Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo and said that any attempt to force the pace of change could lead to instability.
Dr Djindjic said nationalist extremists could regain power in Belgrade in elections next year if the international community did not stop Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian majority obtaining independence, which, he argued, the UN was already fostering.
“What is going on is the transfer of all sovereignty to the Kosovar institutions,” he said. “This didn’t just happen. It was planned. International institutions are creating a fully independent Kosovo. By passing laws in Kosovo’s parliament they don’t care what happens in Serbia.”
Dr Djindjic, a formidable opponent of Slobodan Milosevic, received Western support after the former Yugoslav President was overthrown in 2000.
Recently, however, his increasingly patriotic stance has alarmed Western diplomats. But Dr Djindjic is now concerned about a nationalist backlash.
He said that the powers of Kosovo’s parliament, elected under the auspices of the UN interim administration, exceeded the “substantial autonomy”, envisaged under UN Resolution 1244.
According to Dr Djindjic, this outrages Serb refugees from Kosovo in Serbia, who make up about 15 per cent of the electorate.
“They would explode if Kosovo became fully independent. People would say my Government was not defending them,” he said.
“It is time to put our cards on the table. The international community should say how it imagines the future. I don’t think that democratic government can survive if we don’t do enough now.
“Next year we have elections. Kosovo will be the issue. We can’t say it is not time now. We can offer a solution from Belgrade’s side but, if we say we are unable to do that, nationalistic forces will say: ‘We have a solution’.”
Dr Djindjic said that “a thousand or a few hundred” Serb troops should be deployed in Kosovo to enable Serb refugees to return.
“None of the promises have been implemented. All the promises to the Albanian side have been implemented but nothing on the Serbian side.”
“I can leave office and say: ‘OK, I can’t handle this’. But what will come after this Government? In the 2002 elections, the extreme nationalists, led by (Radical Party leader Vojislav) Seselj, got 30 per cent.”
Dr Djindjic denies courting nationalist votes, saying he is entrenched politically because he has outmanoeuvred his rival, Vojislav Kostunica.
Mr Kostunica became Yugoslav President after Milosevic’s downfall but was marginalised when Yugoslavia became the Union of Serbia and Montenegro.
“Some people say this is an attempt to get support. I don’t need that now. Kostunica is not competition,” he said.
“My proposal is to give the Kosovo Serbs constitutional rights and the institutional tools to protect their interests. As a first step it would be enough for the Serbs to be recognised like the Croats in the Bosnian federation. The Croats were 17 per cent and they got a third of representation. In 1999, Kosovo’s Serbs were 18 per cent.
“The people say: ‘Why do Albanians in Macedonia come into the constitution and why do Croats in Bosnia? Why South Tyrol? Why ten other situations?’ What should I answer?” Without a Western-brokered compromise, he said Belgrade would not shrink from partition; with the Serb majority in northern Kosovo, next to Serbia proper, forming a breakaway mini-state similar to the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia.
Ethnic Albanian leaders would oppose that since the province’s mineral wealth is in the north around the city of Mitrovica and war could erupt again in Kosovo threatening Nato peacekeepers.